Don't Believe the Hype : Tucson, Arizona (Phoenix, Kingman: buying, best school districts, income)

Listen, Tucson deals with crimes like that also. On a much smaller scale, but do you think all of them get reported on the news? No, not all of them do. I will admit that many of the murders do get reported on the nightly news but you have got to be kidding me if you think broad daylight murders don't happen here either. Tucson can be a scary place as well. The crimes have gone up in Tucson, but it is true that the murders have decreased. If you look at those same FBI results Tucson is always on those lists very close to the major cities and even surpassing some major cities that you wouldn't even believe. Quite shocking on some occasions. If you knew anything about the "old" Tucson back in the late 80's all the way to the mid nineties you would change your perspective. One of my personal friends, his family members are considered "veterans" in a very prominent mexican gang that I really can't go into details about. They ran things like a "Mafia" typa deal and anyone who messed over their "homies" or family members would seriously be seen in a body bag the next day. His family has been involved in many unsolved homicides, attempted murders, and near death brutal beatings just because of unresolved drama. Also, just a few weeks ago, someone that I went to High School with was blasted and sprayed by bullets just because she was standing in the same crowd as the people who were targeted by the shooters in the drive by. That girl was killed in broad daylight. I swear, to anyone who spends a late night on the town on the weekends here in Tucson, whether it be Friday or Saturday, there is not ONE weekend that goes by where you DON'T experience suspicious activity, domestic disputes, predicted random gunplay, and police spotlights and sirens because the police are searching for a suspect. These things happen in some neighborhoods around Tucson. I know it happened every single weekend with my other friend I used to visit all the time. I would visit this friend either every friday or saturday night and every weekend without fail I would see the "ghetto bird" aka. the police helicopter soaring in the sky searching for some suspect with a bright spotlight. I would also always hear police sirens and see 3 or 4 cop cars speed past his street. Crackheads and homeless infested his neighborhood as well. From what I hear Tucson isn't even near the magnitude of what Los Angeles is going through but I seriously believe that we are not far from that reality. I know Tucsons crimes are very comparable to Phoenix. Even SOME (not all) Phoenix past residents would go as far as to say that Tucsons crimes are or were worse.

[AZLiam]

Originally Posted by Flipinino

Listen, Tucson deals with crimes like that also. On a much smaller scale, but do you think all of them get reported on the news? No, not all of them do. I will admit that many of the murders do get reported on the nightly news but you have got to be kidding me if you think broad daylight murders don't happen here either. Tucson can be a scary place as well. The crimes have gone up in Tucson, but it is true that the murders have decreased. If you look at those same FBI results Tucson is always on those lists very close to the major cities and even surpassing some major cities that you wouldn't even believe. Quite shocking on some occasions. If you knew anything about the "old" Tucson back in the late 80's all the way to the mid nineties you would change your perspective. One of my personal friends, his family members are considered "veterans" in a very prominent mexican gang that I really can't go into details about. They ran things like a "Mafia" typa deal and anyone who messed over their "homies" or family members would seriously be seen in a body bag the next day. His family has been involved in many unsolved homicides, attempted murders, and near death brutal beatings just because of unresolved drama. Also, just a few weeks ago, someone that I went to High School with was blasted and sprayed by bullets just because she was standing in the same crowd as the people who were targeted by the shooters in the drive by. That girl was killed in broad daylight. I swear, to anyone who spends a late night on the town on the weekends here in Tucson, whether it be Friday or Saturday, there is not ONE weekend that goes by where you DON'T experience suspicious activity, domestic disputes, predicted random gunplay, and police spotlights and sirens because the police are searching for a suspect. These things happen in some neighborhoods around Tucson. I know it happened every single weekend with my other friend I used to visit all the time. I would visit this friend either every friday or saturday night and every weekend without fail I would see the "ghetto bird" aka. the police helicopter soaring in the sky searching for some suspect with a bright spotlight. I would also always hear police sirens and see 3 or 4 cop cars speed past his street. Crackheads and homeless infested his neighborhood as well. From what I hear Tucson isn't even near the magnitude of what Los Angeles is going through but I seriously believe that we are not far from that reality. I know Tucsons crimes are very comparable to Phoenix. Even SOME (not all) Phoenix past residents would go as far as to say that Tucsons crimes are or were worse.

The grass is not always greener on the other side. I've been a resident of Tucson for nearly 15 years, and yes, Tucson does have it's share of crimes. I moved here from Austin, which is supposed to be a much more liberal and "sophisticated" city. I saw more crime there in 9 mos than I've seen here in 15 years. I'm also from Chicago originally, and lived in Dallas for a few years. For those who have spent most of their lives in Tucson, I challenge you to spend a significant time in a larger city (in both good and bad areas), and then compare your vision of Tucson to that. I do believe you'll be surprised.

BTW, if you associate yourself with people who are affiliated with gang activity, don't be surprised if you have aquaintences who are involved in crime (whether a victim or perp) - that's what gangs do - they don't hang out in church together! This happens in EVERY city, and yes, Tucson is no different, but it is CERTAINLY not the worst in any form. Again, venture outside of these desert walls, and you'll certainly see that.

AZLiam, I do agree with your statement for the fact that Tucson isn't any worse than any other city with the exception of a few that are close to the same size by population and area of Tucson. I am very aware that Tucson is not anywhere near the magnitude of Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New Orleans (before katrina), Miami, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, etc..etc..even to smaller cities with major violent crime problems like Gary,IN - Richmond,CA - Compton,CA - Camden,NJ - Opa Locka (miami),FL - San Bernardino,CA - East Palo Alto,CA - Richmond,VA and the list goes on. The only point I was trying to make to exxon is that from the way she was describing another major city compared to Tucson was not fair because there are a handfull of people who have experienced terrible crimes here in Tucson that would beg to differ. I will agree with other posters that 50% of Tucson appears to be very crime infested because of the way our city is layed out and half of it is not taken care of so it looks to many eyes of people not very appealing. We don't have what the east coast would consider run down "projects" because Tucson was not built architecturally like east coast cities and even places like Oakland, Los angeles, and Seattle right here on the West Coast. We were not fortunate enough to have people think of Tucson important enough to bless us with desirable skyskrapers so nobody can compare Tucson to a major city with a population of more than half a mil. I too have lived in other cities outside of Tucson. I myself was actually born in Portsmouth, VA which is not too far from Virginia Beach. I was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area so I know what the citylife is like. I've never lived in any neighborhood or community with a high crime rate with the exception of the 3 years I lived in Long Beach in the late 80's but I was too young to remember. I've even lived in smalltown hicksville primarily caucasion dominated midwestern Kansas which was not my greatest memory but I did. I've spent significant amounts of time in Oklahoma City & Kansas City so I have an idea of what it's like in those places. I've even been to the Philippines to visit my dads family for a whole month and trust me it's a lot worse there. So I know what cities are like and I've done enough research of other cities that I have an idea of how bad or even how good things can get. I was just making one point to exxon and I hope they can now use this knowledge to look at Tucson in a more realistic manner.

I would like to apologize because I forgot to ask you an important question in my previous post AZLiam. I was curious as to know, what area of Tucson do you live now and which areas of Tucson have you experienced in long term to base your opinions and facts about Tucson?

[exxon_valdez]

Flipinino, I understand that there are families and victims of very violent crimes in Tucson, AZ. However, Baltimore and Washington DC have had the highest murder/violence rates in the country the last several years. I am not discrediting any families/victims of violent crimes in Tuscon. Crimes involving fatalities are characteristic of Washington DC and Baltimore for the last 15 or 20 years. It is right up there with infamous Camden, New Jersey. You can see the FBI stats for yourself. People get murdered over cell phones, bad attempted robberies, looking at someone the wrong way, you name it. I am not saying that Tuscon is perfect, but I think the perception of crime is a little misunderstood. I 100% agree with AZLiam that Tucson is no worse than
any other major metropolitan area. If you live in the Washington DC/Baltimore
area, you can see for yourself what violent crime is like in da' hood. Baltimore/Washington DC are currently listed as 2nd and 3rd most violent cities on the FBI home page. There are at least 3 to 7 murders per week in each city. There were 5 murders in Baltimore only 2 weekends ago.

[exxon_valdez]

AZLiam, I agree with your posting that Tucson is no worse off than any other metropolitan city. Have you lived in the Washington DC/Baltimore area? The murder rate is an obvious trait of this area. Murders are so common in Baltimore and Washington DC (mostly in East/West Baltimore and southeast DC, and inside the Capital Beltway) that people have become numb to it. There were 5 murders in Baltimore over 1 weekend only (about 2 weeks ago).

[AZLiam]

Originally Posted by Flipinino

I would like to apologize because I forgot to ask you an important question in my previous post AZLiam. I was curious as to know, what area of Tucson do you live now and which areas of Tucson have you experienced in long term to base your opinions and facts about Tucson?

I totally agree with you in that Tucson's layout is MUCH different from those cities on the east coast. East coast cities were established mostly during the time when there was no automobile, so cities were more dense. Visiting D.C. for example, you will see a few roundabouts like in Europe (Dupont Circle for example), that you would never see here. In any case, Tucson experienced much of its growth MUCH later than those cities. As far as the layout of the town, it is sprawl. The "desert landscape" in the city can seem sometimes dull in comparison to the greenery that you would see in most any other places that aren't the desert. However, it can also be the most beautiful landscape when you drive up into the foothills and parts of the northeast, northwest, west foothills, and very far east. That area takes up at least 1/3 of the city. The actual city of Tucson has some very clean areas, and some areas where the homes are older, and because there is no true landscaping, can appear to be not well-maintained (some aren't, others just don't have trees, greenery, and can seem dull).

I've lived on the eastside, westside, Oro Valley, northside, and in January, purchased a 5-year-old home at Kino/Silverlake.

I just posted this on another thread about the Southside:

If you're speaking about South Tucson, I cannot really comment on it that much since I've just become more familiar with this part of town. I do, however, live in the central/south part of Tucson at Kino and Silverlake area. That's fairly close to the (small) city of South Tucson. I just bought a house in a 5-year-old development. The neighborhood is fine, and I do believe a lot of college students rent homes here (hence the reason I bought the property - more as an investment). It was moderately priced at $174,000. The area is pretty centrally-located as well. I work in the Williams Center on the eastside, and the commute is not horrible (although in a perfect world IMO, I'd be living in the city taking the train-obviously not Tucson). My neighborhood could be perceived as perhaps middle-class if you were to stand back and guess. It's hard to make that assessment though, for my partner's and my annual income combined totals about $160,000. The Kino corridor (just east of South Tucson) will soon be the home of the new Biosciences Park, shopping developments, and new homes. There is promise for this area, and I'm pretty optimistic as well. Every city has it's negative pockets of town, and Tucson is no different.

[Subie]

Hey, OT, but I work in the plaza right in front of the Williams Center AZLiam

[AZLiam]

Originally Posted by Subie

Hey, OT, but I work in the plaza right in front of the Williams Center AZLiam

Hey neighbor - I work in the Merrill Lynch building.

[Subie]

Ahaha, I deliver there almost every day Monday through Friday.

(Jason's deli)

Small world!